


The Lessons of Life

by enigmaticblue



Series: Sun 'Verse [22]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Trope Bingo Round 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 12:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2269176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.” ~Wallace Stegner</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lessons of Life

**Author's Note:**

> This story immediately follows "Always Room for More," and fills the "family" prompt for hc_bingo and the "kidfic" prompt for trope_bingo. 
> 
> WARNING: Contains references to child abuse and sexual assault, although not too graphic.

When Rich left Dean and Cas’ house with Jace, he didn’t even look back, although Jace did, giving Cal a faintly encouraging smile. Miss Maryanne was driving them into town, and Cal watched as the truck trundled down the gravel drive.

 

Casey sidled up next to him, leaning into Cal a little bit. They’d never exactly been close. Cal had always tried to keep up with Rich, and Rich had no use for Casey. Maybe when all three of them had been small, before Mom had died, things had been different.

 

And now, Cal had made a choice—Casey, and her erstwhile family over Rich and Jace.

 

But Rich hadn’t been able to protect Cal, had in fact made Cal do things he wished he could forget. Dean and Cas had taken care of Casey, though, and they’d fixed Rich and Jace, and Cal thought he might be safer here than with Rich.

 

Cal didn’t mind having chores, but he was wary of the older kids, and of Dean and Cas, even though they seemed nice enough, nicer than anybody else Cal has stayed with.

 

The next few days weren’t too bad. They went into town to see Sam’s girlfriend, Julia, who apparently taught lessons to a lot of the local kids.

 

“How long has it been since you’ve been in school?” Miss Julia asked him kindly after she’d introduced him to the other kids, including her son, Aubrey.

 

Cal hesitated, not wanting to appear stupid in front of everybody. “Um, Mom would teach us, and Mr. Arnold and Mr. Beam would give us lessons in the morning.”

 

“Well, we’ll see where you’re at, and go from there,” Miss Julia said. “There’s no shame in being behind, Cal. The important thing is where you go from here, and taking advantage of every opportunity to learn.”

 

Cal nodded, and Casey leaned in to whisper, “It’s cool if you’re behind. There’s no real rush to get through grades or anything. You just learn at your own pace, and Miss Julia is awesome at finding things that are interesting.”

 

“Thanks,” Cal whispered.

 

Miss Julia handed him a sheaf of papers and a pencil. “Answer everything you can, don’t worry about not being able to answer something. This is just an assessment; it’s not a test.”

 

Cal used to like to read, back before everything went to hell. Rich hadn’t, and neither had Casey, both of them preferring outdoor activities. But Cal’s mom would take them to the library, and he would check out non-fiction books—books about engines and animals and history. He hadn’t had access to books or to the free time to read in ages.

 

He knew that he was shaky on the math sections, but he did okay on the basics, and he thought he did well on the reading and science sections—at least as well as he could, given how long he’d been out of school.

 

When he handed in his worksheets, Miss Julia gave him an encouraging smile. “Thank you, Cal. I’m going to look over this, but there are books in the other room if you’d like to read. Feel free to borrow anything you find in there.”

 

Cal walked into the room Miss Julia indicated, and there were floor to ceiling bookshelves full of books. He found one on the American Revolution that he hadn’t read before.

 

He curled up in one of the chairs he found and began to read, looking up only when Casey stuck her head into the room. “We’re eating lunch if you’re interested.”

 

Cal nodded and followed Casey into the kitchen, where everybody was sitting down at a table. There was a platter of sandwiches, and another platter of apple slices and a bowl of carrot sticks. There was also a pitcher of milk, and one of lemonade, and Cal hesitantly helped himself.

 

No one seemed to mind when Cal finished his first sandwich and reached for one of the remaining ones on the platter. Casey passed him the apples and carrots again, and Henry refilled Cal’s milk without being asked.

 

Cal wasn’t used to anybody caring about whether or not he’d gotten enough to eat, so it was a little surprising that they seemed to give a damn as to whether or not he’d gotten his fill.

 

Once lunch was over, Miss Julia said, “All right. I want everybody to work on their assignments. Cal, why don’t we talk about your results?”

 

Cal swallowed hard and stared down at the table while everybody else filed out. Casey gave him a brief, hard hug, and Cal wondered if that was a good sign or a bad one.

 

“It’s okay,” Miss Julia said, sitting down across from him. “There are no grades here, Cal. If there’s something in your education that’s missing, we’ll do our best to fill that gap. If there’s something you want to learn, we’ll work on that. My goal is to make sure you’re ready for whatever job you want to have in the future, or even college, if interests you.”

 

Cal shrugged. “I want to be able to take care of myself.”

 

“You couldn’t do better than staying with Dean and Cas then,” Miss Julia replied. “They’ll help you. But in the meantime, they’re going to want you to continue with school.”

 

Cal didn’t mind that idea in the last. “All right.”

 

“Well, your reading comprehension and your history are quite good, although there are some gaps it won’t be too hard to fill,” Miss Julia said. “We’ll need to work on math and science, but I imagine you haven’t had much chance to address those subjects in the past, and that’s fine.”

 

Cal shifted. “So, I’m not stupid?” He tried to make a joke out of it.

 

“Far from it,” Miss Julia said firmly. “Not knowing things doesn’t make you stupid, it just means you haven’t had a chance to have formal schooling.”

 

Cal managed a smile. “Thanks.”

 

“Come on, we’ll work on math this afternoon,” Miss Julia said.

 

Cal found that he liked math when Miss Julia was teaching it. He was a little behind Casey, but not too much, and Miss Julia had a way of explaining things that made a lot of sense.

 

The last part of the afternoon was spent on the scientific method. Henry was focusing on anatomy, studying on his own, and Ben and Mary were studying chemistry, just the two of them. Cal felt a little odd, being grouped with the younger kids, but Casey sat next to him and walked him through things.

 

“It’s cool,” she said in an undertone. “I didn’t know jack when I came here, but I’m getting there, and you will too.”

 

Around four, Miss Julia dismissed them. “Really well done today, everybody. Cal, it was lovely to have you here.”

 

“Lovely to have you here,” Aubrey echoed with a grin.

 

Cal smiled. “It was nice to meet you, Aubrey.”

 

There are enough of them that Ben and Mary had ridden in on a bike, and Cas comes to pick them up in the Willys.

 

“You can sit up front,” Casey said. “You have long legs.”

 

“So does Henry,” Cal countered, since Henry was nearly as tall as him.

 

“Climb in, and arrange yourselves accordingly,” Cas said. “Cal, if you’re in the front seat, Cora can sit on your lap.”

 

Cora grinned at him. “Okay!”

 

Cal didn’t think he had another option, so he said, “Sure, I guess.”

 

“Put your seatbelts on,” Cas called.

 

Cal settled Cora on his lap and put the seatbelt on across both of them. In the back, Henry, Casey, and Ryan squeezed together.

 

He felt a little strange with Cora on his lap, but she leaned back against him trustingly, and Cal held onto her as they bounced down the road toward Dean and Cas’ place.

 

“Chores,” Cas called as he pulled up in front of the house. “And then dinner. Cal, you okay?”

 

Cal nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

 

“I’ve got him,” Casey said. “Come on, Cal.”

 

He followed his sister around, helping her weed the garden and harvest vegetables “We’ll put most of it on ice until Cas is ready to can,” Casey offered. “Probably this weekend. It’s pretty cool. Sometimes Cas asks us to help, but Mary and him usually have it covered.”  


They brought the vegetables into the house, and Cas nodded. “Thank you both. Wash up for dinner now.”

 

Cal was just starting to get used to dinners here, which were a little bit like those on Mr. Arnold’s farm, which usually consisted of plain food, water and milk shared among six to ten boys around a long table. Mr. Arnold had insisted on strict decorum, though, and silence had been encouraged.

 

Not so here, where the kids shouted over each other, and reached across the table for what they wanted when it was within reach, and teased each other mercilessly at times.

 

Casey sat next to him, and she made sure he had food on his plate that he wouldn’t have asked for himself. “Nobody goes hungry here,” Casey reminded him softly. “It’s okay if you want more.”

 

“I know,” Cal replied, but the lessons of the last year were deeply ingrained in him, and he couldn’t help but hesitate. Rich had always been the first to eat, and although he’d mostly tried to make sure Jace was taken care of, he hadn’t done the same for Cal.

 

There were cookies for dessert, and Casey broke hers in half and put it on Cal’s plate.

 

“You don’t have to,” he protested.

 

Casey shrugged. “I know how much you like chocolate chip cookies, and we don’t get them very often.”

 

They didn’t get them often, and Cal felt strange. Casey was his little sister; Cal should be looking after her, rather than the other way around. Then again, it felt good to have someone care, to make a sacrifice for him.

 

That night, they gathered in the living room. Cal read the book that Miss Julia had let him borrow, and Casey and Henry pored over the big atlas he had. Ben and Mary had already retreated to the barn, and Ryan and Cora pulled out a board game to play with Dean and Cas.

 

It was a cozy feeling, and the warmth of the room and the low hum of voices lulled Cal to sleep, even though the book was interesting.

 

He was on the sugar beet farm again, and there were hands holding him down and scrabbling at his pants. Cal felt the grit of the dirt floor against his cheek, and the hand on his shoulder—

 

“Cal!”

 

He woke up with a gasp, flailing at the hands that held him, and then he recognized Cas. “Oh, um…”

 

“Come on, son,” Dean said. He was on his feet, and although he limped heavily as they walked into the kitchen, he was otherwise okay. Casey trailed them uncertainly and hovered in the doorway.

 

“Are you alright with Casey being here for this?” Dean asked quietly. “We can talk with just the two of us if you’d rather.”

 

Cal sent an apologetic look towards Casey. “Can I tell you later?”

 

Casey hesitated. “Okay.”

 

He didn’t want to tell Dean anything, but he figured that having a nightmare in the middle of the living room meant he owed some answers.

 

“Cal,” Dean said gently. “”Whatever you might tell me, _anything_ you might tell me, it’s no worse than what I’ve seen or done myself. I can promise you that.”

 

“The sugar beet farm was bad,” Cal admitted. “There was a man there, and he—“ Cal couldn’t finish the sentence.

 

“Okay,” Dean said gently. “Whatever he did, you know it wasn’t your fault, right?”

 

Cal stayed silent.

 

“Did Rich know?” Dean asked.

 

Cal rubbed his thumb along the grain of the table. “He said it was my fault, that I didn’t fight him off.”

 

“He was wrong,” Dean insisted. “No offense, Cal, but your brother is a little shit, and you probably shouldn’t listen to anything he says.”

 

Cal barked out a laugh that had no humor to it. “He was there, and you weren’t.”

 

“He _was_ there, and he didn’t protect you,” Dean countered. “Ask Sam sometime about what an overprotective bastard I was when we were kids. But if something like that had happened to Sam, I would have castrated the son of a bitch who touched him.”

 

Cal shifted, unwilling to admit that Rich had failed. He’d followed Rich, after all. He could have stayed with Mr. Arnold, and he would have been okay.

 

“You went with your brother because you trusted him to look after you,” Dean continued softly. “And he didn’t. That’s on him, not on you. Cal, you’re a good kid. Julia says you’re a good student, and I know you’re smart. If you ever want to talk, you can come to me or to Cas.”

 

Cal shook his head. “You guys are—you’re good.”

 

“I wasn’t always,” Dean admits quietly. “I did some pretty bad stuff, and I’ve tried to make it right over time. Cas—well, you might not believe this, but Cas is a lot older than he looks, and he’s seen just about everything. And if you don’t want to talk to us, you can talk to Sam, because he’s seen a lot, too.”

 

Cal shook his head again. “No. You guys are—you’re _good_.”

 

“I hope so,” Dean said gently. “I think we are. But we went through hell to get here—literally. So, think about that, because I think you’ve been though hell, too. And if you look at where we are, what we have here, I think it’s pretty clear that you can have this, too.”

 

Cal wanted to believe him. He wanted to know that he could fit into this family the way Casey seemed to. “Thanks.”

 

Cas stepped into the kitchen. “Dean, Ryan and Cora want you to tuck them in.”

 

Dean hesitated before he patted Cal’s shoulder, but he let a heavy hand rest there for a moment, and it felt good, better than Cal expected. He had to admit that he was reassured by Casey’s trust in them, and the relationship Dean and Cas had with the other kids.

 

He thought he’d be able to tell if there was something wrong under the surface.

 

“You can always come to us if you have a nightmare you need to shake,” Dean said before he left the room. “Or you can go to Casey. I’m sure she’d sit with you.”

 

Cas sat down next to Cal, leaving a few inches between them. “That was a bad nightmare,” Cas said.

 

Cal nodded but didn’t reply.

 

“Would you mind if I prayed for you?” Cas asked.

 

Cal frowned. “I—I guess not.”

 

He wondered if this was the start of something weird, but Cas just asked, “Can I touch your shoulder?”

 

The question made him feel a little better, because no one who meant him any harm had asked for permission before. “Okay.”

 

Cas rested his hand on the same shoulder that Dean had, but he didn’t say anything out loud.

 

Cal sat there with Cas’ hand resting on his shoulder, but the silence didn’t feel as awkward as it might have. Eventually, Cas raised his head and squeezed Cal’s shoulder. “Sleep well tonight, Cal. I hope you’ll be happy here.”

 

Casey sat down next to him as soon as Cas had left, as though she’d been waiting to join him. “It was really bad, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yeah,” Cal replies. “I don’t—I can’t tell you about it. You shouldn’t have to hear it.”

 

Casey was quiet for a long moment. “You know, if you hadn’t left Mr. Arnold’s place, you might not have survived.”

 

Cal blinked. “What?”

 

“There was a shapeshifter who impersonated our dad, and he went to Mr. Arnold’s to get you guys,” Casey replied. “And when he couldn’t find you, he came to get me.”

 

Cal winced. “So, us leaving got you into trouble.”

 

“No, you leaving saved your life, and then Uncle Sam and Papa Dean and Papa Cas saved _my_ life,” Casey said bluntly. “I have a family now, and you’re a part of it, and I’m _glad_ you’re here.”

 

Cal might not be able to tell Casey what had happened to him, but he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.  Casey pressed her forehead against his shoulder and held on just as tightly.

 

“Thanks,” Cal said quietly. They had both been betrayed by their family, but at least they had each other, and Cal knew that he wouldn’t have landed on his feet if it weren’t for Casey.

 

At least he had the chance to make his life better, and even if it was his younger sister looking after him, it felt good.

 

For the first time in a long time, Cal felt safe.


End file.
